GM'ing and Session Guidelines
Session Difficulty: When a campaign is announced, the GM will assign it a difficulty ranking. The difficulty rankings are as follows. # Easy. Campaign is mostly RP-based with little combat, or combat is non-lethal. PC death is highly unlikely to impossible. Rewards are greatly decreased. 2. Mild. Campaign has some combat or traps, but they are easily overcome. PC death unlikely. Less than normal rewards. 3. Normal. Campaign has combat and lethal traps. PC death possible if adequate precautions are not taken, or players are unlucky. Random encounter CR’s are usually based off of party level, not party CR. Normal rewards. 4. Challenging. Campaign has lethal enemies and traps. PC death is likely if not prepared for the challenges or actions are rash. Random encounter CR’s are usually based off of party CR that only factors in gestalt levels. Normal rewards plus extra fame and faction reputation possible. 5. Difficult. Campaign has extremely lethal enemies and traps, up to and including save-or-die spells and effects. It is probable that at least one PC will die unless full precautions are taken, and even then, PC death may still occur if the PC is unlucky. Random encounter CR’s are usually based off of party CR which includes gestalt levels and templates. Normal rewards, plus special rewards which may include unique items and campaign traits. Session Rewards: Players can earn up to 3xp per game, and up to 2rp per hour played. Gold rewards vary based on level. About the DMs Dagger (Dag) GM Age: 46 Top 3 Favorite Classes to Play: Fighter, Cleric, Magus Least Favorite Class Feature to GM: Anything with pets. Background Info: I was a paramedic for 15 years for both private and 911 services. I tend to draw on that experience a lot when setting up campaigns, descriptions and events to lend a more realistic feel to my games. GM Style: I like to set up campaigns with heavy emphasis on backstory, lore and serious RP. I tend to include elements of real-life contemporary social issues in my games. My campaigns tend to rank more on the difficult side of the spectrum. I enjoy character RP and humor, however I prefer fast-paced combat and since I usually have a lot of storytelling and setting descriptions to do, I prefer players to limit their input to their combat turns, or when RP involves them. I also expect players to know their classes and abilities before the game starts, in order to keep the flow of the game smooth. More often than not, I will restrict the level of players in my games to a certain range rather than letting anyone of any level join. Rewards: I reward RP based on how involved the character is with the setting and campaign story, and the relevance of their actions. I also tend to reduce this award if the player consistently breaks immersion, or engages in excessive extra-game/ooc conversation. I reward XP based off of how well the campaign is executed from a mechanical standpoint, as well as how ready a player is when his combat turn comes around. This includes use of relevant macros (including initiative macros), as well as how often the character interrupts or “coaches” other players during their turns. Alexander The Great (Mazricoth) DM Age:24 Top 3 Favorite Classes to Play: Wizard, Cleric, Barbarian Least Favorite Class Feature to GM: Raising and using Undead Background Info: I joined my first group around three years ago, and had the job of DMing handed to me a couple months later. I've been playing or DMing off and on since, and I still have a ways to go before I'm satisfied with my ability. I really like playing, so I try to base my sessions off of how I would want my DM to act. GM Style: I'm a very relaxed GM. I'll usually have a basic background to the story and focus on what's happening from scene to scene. I love working with players to help them do awesome things, but I'll put my foot down if I think that you're taking advantage of the rules. My pet peeve is disruptive players; If you think I'm missing something, or have forgotten a rule, then by all means let me know, but if I acknowledge you and still go ahead with what I said, I would much rather you wait and discuss it with me after the session as opposed to dragging out the session for everyone else. New and inexperienced players are welcomed with open arms, though I'll still ask for you to keep your turns down to a minimum, time-wise. Rewards: I'll generally reward a completed session with full RP rewards, as long as someone wasn't aggresively disruptive or left halfway through the session. I tend to reward xp and money based off of how well you accomplish your goals. Ranging from 1xp for participating, to 3xp for finishing one or more main objectives. Raisu (Raisu) DM Age: ? Top 3 Favorite Classes to Play: Witch, Witch, Rogue. Yes, I like witches that much. Least Favorite Class Feature to GM: Anything so complex it holds up the game for everyone else. Background Info: My first experience with TTPRGs was an eight-player Pathfinder game that didn't go so well due to a lack of a session zero and the impossibility of scheduling for that many people. Since then, I dabbled in Pathfinder from time to time whenever I felt like running a game, and eventually I got enough experience with GMing that I felt like I was ready to take on the world (of Tibaeria). I joined the DM team back when there were only a total of three DMs plus Dag, and having less than a years' worth of Pathfinder/TTRPG experience at the time, I honestly had no idea what I wanted to accomplish or contribute. After much trial and error, I've figured out my style. GM Style: I take a narrative-based approach to my games, and thus I encourage my players to take a fiction-first approach to their roleplaying. I want players to come up with creative solutions and do what they think their characters would do rather than trying to calculate the odds of success based on numbers on a sheet of paper. I like to get to know my players and their characters so I can create encounters that are challenging but also give each character the opportunity to shine. I expect players to know how their characters and abilities work before the game as well as take their turns in a timely manner. Players are expected to show up to my games on time and have their character sheets and tokens ready to go by the start time. Lastly, I'm not as brutal as rumors dictate, but maybe I'm only saying that to lull you into a false sense of security. Rewards: I reward players based on their performance both individually and as a team. Occasionally, I may reward players with something unique/priceless in more difficult missions if I deem it appropriate. Cameron (Mac) DM Age: 20 Birthday April 19 Top 3 Favorite Classes to Play: Oracles, Wizards, anything with melee Least Favorite Class Feature to GM: Anything with pets or ridiculously complex. Background Info: I’m from west coast Canada. I’ve been playing tabletop RPG’s for about 10 years now, starting with 4e back in highschool (Dragonborn warlord ftw). Pathfinder has been off and on for me mostly playing with my irl group in one shots before trying it out here. I’ve gained the nickname Mac because of one of my friends also called Cameron. Currently I do mechanical repair on car and heavy duty trucks. (logging trucks). GM Style: I always make sure my game has lore reasons behind it or a driving point behind the scenes. For the actual gameplay I prefer to try and stick to the RAW rules, but I'll let players try anything within reason because it's quite amazing some of the creativity that can be used to solve a problem (a Dragonborn and Minotaur throw the halfling onto the dragon, who opens up the bag of holding carrying 200+ daggers). I’m quite laid back and as long as you know what your doing when it comes to your turn. Wyatt DM Age: 21 Top 3 Favorite Classes to Play: Wizard, Ranger, Rogue/Swashbuckler Least Favorite Class Feature to GM: Moral-less Characters, Sorcerers Background Info: I ran my own home brew game for a little over a half a year with some friends before it dissolved due to our busy schedules. Then I played a game of Rise of the Runelord for a short amount of time with players that had rotated in and out before finding this game which I have been a part of for a little over two years. GM Style: I normally run pretty laid back sessions and shoot from the hip on some of the ruling sometimes. Though if you do have a discretion on ruling I’m willing to take a suggestion just be aware and link me to the thing you wish to discuss. Also a lot of my missions there will be many ways to complete your goal, some more obvious than others. RP is encouraged, however keep it in character. Saying “Oh, my character will explain how the story of my great uncle” won’t cut it. You must tell the tale. Rewards: Rewards tend to stay pretty standard. I reward those additionally who go on difficult missions, but know that death is very likely. Dagii DM Age: 33 Top 3 Favorite Classes to Play: Cleric, Wizard, Ranger Least Favorite Class Feature to GM: Pets Background Info: My stepfather introduced me to AD&D 20 years ago, and I fell in love. I lost my gaming group around the time 3rd Edition came out, when I was in high school, so I played pick-up games and GM’d for my cousins, continuing with 3.5 in college. I abandoned RPGs when the 4th Edition debacle came out, but wanted to give 5E a shot. I couldn’t find a group, was invited to join a Pathfinder IRL game, and my GM referred me to this group when that broke up. Been playing and loving it ever since, and running a PRO (Domari Brun) and GMing some games is my effort to give back while continuing to have fun myself. GM Style: It’s important to me to be a good GM. This means conforming to reasonable player expectations as defined by RAW, exercising GM discretion to enable characters to do what they’re designed to do taking into account the nature of the game, and ensuring that you and your characters have sufficient knowledge of all relevant factors such that the outcome is truly in your hands and those of RNGesus. I dislike player deaths, and prefer that they only come about due to player stupidity following adequate warning, incredibly bad luck, or a conscious decision to take a big risk. As a result, I tend to have planned encounters that do substantial HP damage but rarely save-or-die effects, ability damage, or negative levels until players have the spells to remove those after combat. It is often possible to avoid combat, increase rewards, or gain an advantage with proper skill checks if you are built to do that. If you think my determination of a rule is unfair or reflects a misunderstanding, please let me know immediately via Discord PM and provide the evidence in support of your view. Rewards: Generally, I do Difficulty 3 missions according to the standard rate, awarding full RP and full XP on success (or death), partial XP on failure. Difficulty 4 missions have higher base rewards (e.g., Merc Guild) or opportunities for extra funds (e.g., PPG). Difficulty 5 missions may have opportunities for other awards. Zzyzx DM Age: Probably older than you Top 3 Favorite Classes to Play: Barbarian, Cleric, Druid Least Favorite Class Feature to GM: Overly optimized skills of any kind Background Info: I started playing D&D with the Red Box Basic D&D and my favorite module of all time is “Keep on the Borderlands”. Took a break after high school and got back into it heavy when D&D 3rd edition game out. Played that regular till 4th Edition then tried Pathfinder couple times. Dropped it again because finding a group was impossible where I was living. Got back into playing thru Roll20 in late 2015 and here I am. GM Style: I like to run more city, investigative type sessions but those take some time to prep and the realities of life what they are I don’t always have the time to put those together. I do try to put interesting fight in even if I’m running a quick RSP mission though. I run per the RAW but I’m not against bending a rule for an appropriately epic idea that makes me laugh or say “Damn that’s cool”, I’m here to have fun too. I’m not going to pretend to know every rule but I don’t allow protracted rules discussions. If you have an issue that may take more than a few minutes to resolve, we can discuss it after the game. PC death I will give additional latitude to however. Rewards: I do rewards according to the standard rates. I like giving out offbeat or unique extra rewards when I can. Something that adds flavor but not much mechanical benefit. Daniel (Griffon) DM Age: 18 Top 3 Favorite Classes to Play: Oracles, Inquisitors, and Druids Least Favorite Class Feature to GM: Anything that requires more than a minute for the player to execute. Background Info: I started playing tabletop RPGs when I was 13, DMing a 3.5 game for a group of friends who were all much older than me. I probably don’t need to tell you that it didn’t go as well as I’d hoped, but I ended up enjoying it a lot, and I’ve been playing and running games for various systems since then. GM Style: I’m a firm believer in the idea that tabletop games should be fun before anything else. To that end, I tend to run pretty laid-back games that encourage player freedom. Roleplaying is my favorite element of the game, so I try to promote interesting character interactions whenever I can. I want players to feel like their characters and the world they’re in are alive, so my narration can get pretty fluffy at times. Rewards: So long as the party has accomplished or made substantial progress toward accomplishing their goal, I’ll award full XP. So long as there are no significant disruptions, I’ll award full RP. AA3447 DM Age: Between Griffon and Zzyzx Top 3 Favorite Classes to Play: Warpriest , Cleric , Arcanist Least Favorite Class Feature to GM: Healing. Background Info: I started off with a 5e campaign back in 2017. After about a year a play I grew to find the system limiting and string searching for something new. Realizing that signing up for most games requires a ten page essay, your credit card number, and social security. I stumbled my way into Tibaeria and have been screwing around ever since. GM Style: My sessions are fairly laid back. The general idea behind most of my games is to create a space where you can hang out and talk with friends for a couple hours. Meaning that you usually have a lot of freedom to play as you want. Whether that be intense RP, just stabbing everything you see, or something in between. Rewards: I generally reward the standard rate but do give extra rewards for great RP. Dicerson Trail DM Age: 21 Top 3 Favorite Classes to Play: Barbarian, Bloodrager, Fighter Least Favorite Class to GM: None! I don't care what people play :p Background Info: I got into TTRPGs about 5 years ago, when I was relatively young in high school. Mostly stuck to friends, and then discovered roll20. Now, 5 year later, i've played a slew of tabletops (though my experience pales in comparison to a ton of people), both as a player and as a GM including DND 5e, Pathfinder (duh), Eclipse Phase, Shadowrun, and Warhammer 40k Deathwatch (I've also played, but not GMd, dark heresy, wrath and glory, cyberpunk 2050, Starfinder, and a slew of 100% homebrew games a friend of mine spends his free time designing). GM Style: My first and foremost goal is fun, if yall aren't having fun I'm not having fun. I don't go out of my way to kill people, but I don't slouch either. I try to imagine what the opponents would do given what they know and the situation, and have them react accordingly. I enjoy describing the environment, and the actions the players take, to try and give an epic feel to the game as a whole (whether I'm describing glorious victory, hilarious failure, beautiful terrain, or disgusting shit-covered caves :p ). I am also sort of a rules whore, and do my damndest to make sure I am always doing things the way they are supposed to be done, because that can be the difference between life and death for a character someone has put hours of work into. In this vein, don't be afraid to correct me if I do things wrong, but if it gets excessive and disrupts the flow of the game I won't be happy t.t Rewards: I essentially stick to the rules for rewards the server uses (Gold by level, XP for participation, RP for time, etc.). I might hand out special rewards if the players do anything outstanding, but I don't imagine it'd be common. Category:GM